Horner impressed by Verstappen growth

Christian Horner admits he has been impressed by how Max Verstappen grew into his role as one of Red Bull's drivers throughout his second season in Formula 1.

Verstappen became the youngest driver in F1 history when he made his debut for Toro Rosso in 2015 at the age of 17, and delivered a hugely impressive rookie campaign. His progression was so quick that Red Bull promoted him to the senior team after just four races last year, and Verstappen duly won first time out in Barcelona.

Horner - the Red Bull team principal - says he has confidence in the teenager's ability to fight for the championship in future based on the way he quickly dealt with the added pressure of racing for a front-running team.

"Hats off to Helmut Marko for initially pushing very hard for Max to give him a junior contract, for nicking him from under the noses of Mercedes," Horner told RACER. "People thought we were mad at the time to put him in a Formula 1 car at the age of 16. Then of course what he delivered in his first season was already outstanding, and he only built on that in his second year.

"I think the timing was just about right for him to be honest with you. He's grown into that role incredibly well and you can see as he's gained more experience his performances have just got stronger and stronger and stronger throughout the year."

Verstappen's initial promotion was met with surprise at the time, and Horner admits he had some early doubts that were erased immediately by the stunning victory in Spain.

"Inevitably with all these things there was a risk and of course there was an awful lot of criticism at the time surrounding it. But, you know, Red Bull is different to other teams, we have four cockpits, all four drivers are contracted to Red Bull Racing and we could switch them around every race if we so wished, which is a privileged position that we're in.

"But why wouldn't you put your best foot forward in your first team? Of course then by Max going out and delivering the performance and victory that he ultimately did, which was a fairytale start, totally vindicated that decision."